At a press event in Detroit today, Ford took the wraps off its new in-car infotainment software. Goodbye (and good riddance) MyFord Touch. Say hello to Sync 3, a heavily revamped software setup that leaves its slow, balky, frustrating past behind and takes notes from the faster, more-intuitive design of your smartphone.

Sync 3’s features are familiar in the smartphone world, but largely unseen in the in-dash systems of cars today. Ford worked to create a quicker, more intuitive setup that works hand-in-hand with your smartphone, offering easy access to the features you want while minimizing distraction.

Larger fonts and bigger touch areas are said to make Sync 3 easier to use on the go, while a brighter screen and sharper, more-basic menu designs make sure drivers can navigate their requests at a glance. The all-new software works with a brand-new capacitive touch screen that recognizes light touches and pinch-and-zoom gestures as easily as your smartphone. As we’d previously reported, Ford is ditching its partner Microsoft for BlackBerry QNX-based software, and this is the result of that switch.

Much like a smartphone or tablet, Sync 3 will receive over-the-air software updates and refinements when connected to a Wi-Fi network. Just park your car somewhere where it can connect to your home network, and updates will automatically appear every few weeks. No more juggling a USB update between your computer and dashboard, or (groan) visits to the dealership for something your phone can handle with a single tap.

Of course, the ideal car touch screen is one you rarely have to touch or look at, and Ford has heavily updated the way voice control works on Sync 3. Now you can speak commands to your console in something approaching conversational English, requesting addresses like “eleven twenty-five Main Street” instead of “one-one-two-five Main Street,” or “Detroit airport” rather than “Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.” Time will tell whether it proves as distracting as did several voice-control systems—including MyFord Touch—in a recent AAA study.

With AppLink, Ford extends voice commands to include the apps you have installed on your smartphone. AppLink will automatically discover music apps like Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, Sirius XM, and iHeartRadio, displaying simplified controls for each app on screen alongside Sync 3’s built-in apps.

And thankfully, no matter what app or function is currently on-screen, Sync 3 keeps a toolbar along the bottom edge for quick access to audio, climate control, and navigation functions.

Like previous in-car software by Ford and others, the new system can detect a significant accident and dial 911 through a Bluetooth-connected phone. In addition, Sync 3 can relay information about airbag deployment, how many seatbelts were in use, and the type of crash (front, side, rear, or rollover) to emergency responders.

Ford says it drew on 22,000 customer comments and suggestions in developing Sync 3. Given how balky and unintuitive the previous MyFord Touch system could be, most of that input probably wasn’t very friendly. We haven’t tried out Sync 3 yet, but given how much Ford altered for the new system, it sounds like it’ll be a significant improvement. Expect the revamped software to start appearing across Ford’s lineup beginning with model year 2016.